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Monday, 29 July 2013

I've often longed for an invitation to the palace for afternoon tea, and when I recently purchased some wool (you can read about it here) my intention was to make a range of Union Jack accessories. Mostly to match a UK themed cube/bedside table we own, but also on the off chance that this post would catch the eye of the Royal household and my invitation to tea would then quite obviously soon be in the mail, as surely they would be able to see the heroic effort that goes into designing and producing a cushion. I grant you it's not up there with saving lives, volunteering or generally making the community a better place, but it's a little something and I'm hoping it's enough to see me on the lawns having cucumber sandwiches before the decade is out...or possibly even the decade after that.

My plan for a crochet cushion all seemed quite easy on the face of it. The plan being to come up with a spreadsheet in a Union Jack design and then crochet away to my heart's content. Problem number one being that I'd never really had to change colours while crocheting before and it turns out there's a specific way to do it, not the off the cuff let's-just-try-it-this-way-cause-it's-sure-to-work method I employed on my first attempt...you live and you learn. If you're wanting to do it the right way, there's a great video tutorial from the friendly folk at New Stitch A Day

For this project I used Bendigo Woollen Mills Classic Denim Mix, Holly and Almond with a size 4.5 crochet hook.

Chain 41.
Row 1. Half Double Crochet (HDC, also called Half Triple depending on which country you're from) into third chain from hook and continue to HDC into each chain across - a total of 40 HDC per row
Row 2-35 Continue HDC as per chart.

The chart I have provided you is slightly different to the front of the cushion I made. I was wanting a square cushion, but as I worked my way through my original chart, I realised that it wasn't quite square and so my revised chart is a full four stitches wider.

Back (done in two sections to allow for cushion insert)

Top Section

In the matching colour of your choosing, Chain 41

Row 1. HDC into third chain from hook and continue to
HDC into each chain across - a total of 40 HDC per row as per front. Continue for 20 rows.

Bottom Section

Chain 41

Row 1. HDC into third chain from hook and continue to
HDC into each chain across - a total of 40 HDC per row as per front. Continue for 20 rows.

Cushion Front

To make up: Sew buttons in place on one of the back sections. Arrange the back over the front with wrong sides facing and beginning in the corner SC around the outside of the cushion. Turn inside out and insert cushion cover.

As you can see, I've not yet made mine into a cushion cover as I'm still deciding if I should turn it into a bag...

Saturday, 27 July 2013

When Louise sent me her excess Araucania yarn I did feel a certain sense of obligation to use it on projects that were worthy of both it's divine colourways and gorgeous draping quality. I was really thrilled with our first project which was the "No frills poncho", but it did take me a little while to come up with something for the Ruca yarn in more seaside shades. Lately I seem to have been making a lot for my tween daughter, so I really, really wanted something for me this time.

When I came across the free pattern from Lion Brand for their Tweedy Shawl
I thought it could be just the project for me. A shawl is wonderful
all year round and the triangular pattern using double crochet looked
like it would be a quick and simple item to make.

I loved this pattern from the start. It was very easy and came together in not time at all, the colours are wonderful and the yarn is beautiful - quite simply a brilliant combination for any project.

The only problem I encountered was when to stop. I was worried I would make the shawl too short, but at the same time, I'm not exactly statuesque so I didn't want it to be out of proportion to my frame. In the end, I decided in what only could be described as a very unscientific way, that the right length would probably be just before the end of my second ball of yarn...and in the end, I think it was exactly the right length after all.

Even though I persuaded my daughter to model this latest project, rest assured this piece will be living in my wardrobe and not hers!

Wednesday, 24 July 2013

There is nothing better than school holidays. I am fortunate to work in a school and when my children were small, it enabled us to have this time off together. It was wonderful. However, they are all grown now and whilst my son still lives at home, he doesn't need entertaining which means that this time is now mine and this holiday I was planning on all things spinning.

Firstly, there was a small matter of a pre-arranged holiday in a Forest Chalet overlooking the inlet to be had. This meant evenings of watching the kangaroos from our balcony whilst having a wine or two. It also meant hours of knitting and, as luck would have it, the small town in which we were holidaying had a spinning shop so it also meant an hour or two browsing all things wool. All in all, the most delightfully relaxing break.

Now that I was back home, together with Evie (my new spinning wheel) I was ready to dip my toes into the world of homespun .

Strawberry and Silver Roving

I had been practising on some natural crossbred merino tops but, lets face it, you can't just browse in a wool/spin shop, so I came armed with some new roving to spin.

Some strawberry merino and some English Leicester which the owner of the spinning shop said would practically spin itself - it didn't!

Bobbins of yarn

Two evenings later I had a bobbin of strawberry and a bobbin of leicester. Both of them spun very differently to the merino I was used to. It kept getting away from me in places and somehow, I managed to get the leicester tangled on the bobbin. Don't ask me how, it just happened.

It looked so lovely on the bobbins though. I was starting to feel like quite the spinner. I hadn't intended to ply them together but somehow they seemed right for each other. I thought I would give it a go.

Plying with my new Lazy Kate

Dad had also made me a lazy Kate for the spinning wheel and there is something quite hypnotic about watching the wool gently unwind from the bobbin and twist together onto the wheel. It took a while and allowed me to see all the mistakes quirky characteristics of my spinning coming together. Some parts looked exquisite whilst other bits left me shaking my head - it looked like it had come straight out of the bag, unspun. But I continued to ply.

Winding on a Niddy Noddy

I had also purchased a Niddy Noddy at the spin shop. I couldn't even begin to comprehend even thinking about asking Dad to make me one. It was best that I just quietly purchased it. I happily wound the wool onto this little gadget but forgot to count how many times I wound. Now I had no idea how much homespun I had.

My first skeins

Then, it was time to hang the skein. I had read that you can lightly steam the homespun to set the ply - which I did. .. and still I continued to feel like quite the spinner

Finally wound

Winding time made me a bit nervous but it wound beautifully. It was a thing to behold. I was impressed with the way it looked. It had a genuine 'homespun-ness' to it.

Ready to go

Once it was wound, I discovered that it had a thickness of 9 wraps per inch which makes it a worsted weight. I think in this instance, worsted translates to roughly anything from lace weight to super bulky because during the plying stage I saw every yarn weight coming together - this was going to make knitting with my first ball of homespun from my spinning wheel very interesting indeed.

Having no real idea of just how much wool I had and lacking a decent scale to weigh my homespun, I just launched into a very basic cowl. When I say basic, I doubt that it could be any more simple.

I chose to knit it in 7mm needles. Even though the usual sizing would be about 8.00mm, I knew the variations in the yarn and went 'middle of the road'.

Pattern

Materials

7.00mm circular needle

assortment of homespun and 8ply (DK) yarn.

The 8ply is knitted on the same sized needles giving a slightly looser feel. It helps to accentuate the homespun striping by helping it to come forward.

Using whatever homespun is to hand, cast on 100 stitches using 7.00mm circular needles.

Set up a foundation row of K1, P1 and join, being careful to ensure that the knitting isn't twisted.

Continue in rib pattern for a further 4 rows.

Join 8ply to cowl and knit for 5 rows

Change to homespun and, continuing rib pattern, rib for 4 rows.

Continue the homespun and DK striping until you have 4 repeats.

Change to homespun and rib 5 rows. Bind off in rib pattern.

So .. there it is. The simplest of cowls made with my very first batch of homespun.

Whilst I noticed all the quirkiness of the different yarn weights when I was plying, they were extremely evident whilst knitting, making it very clear just how far I have to go in my spinning journey. I'm not usually a knitter of bulky yarns though, so I enjoyed just how quickly it knitted up - just one night.

Monday, 22 July 2013

For all of the years I've been doing crafty stuff, I confess I have never, ever made a pair of booties. Not even for my own sweet babies did I pick up yarn - shocking I know, but in my defence pregnancy and I are not friends and so called "morning sickness" that is supposed to last for the first few months more than outstayed its welcome!

I have plenty of baby weight wool that I'd managed to pick up for a mere $1 a ball, so while finding the prerequisite materials wasn't an issue, choosing a style certainly was. Searching through Pinterest gives an astounding array of styles for tiny feet and while I was tempted by many, the Cute Baby Ballet Shoes from Lisa Auch managed to grab my attention. A fabulous free pattern (thanks Lisa!), not too difficult and with ballet styling, they're everything I didn't know I was looking for when I started searching.

I can't believe I didn't try booties before, made in a single evening and as cute as can be, they are the perfect fill-in project when procrastination strikes.

These little delights were made with Bella Baby Sprinkle and I admit deviating slightly from the pattern to add a little more width. My experiment may or may not have been successful as I'm still waiting to try them on little feet. One of my work colleagues is expecting a baby, so it may well be a few more months before we know if my slight changes are effective or disastrous.

I'm thrilled with how they came together, although I'm quite certain you can tell how long it's been since you've had a baby of your own by how small they seem. I even had to Google baby foot sizes at one stage to make sure I hadn't accidentally made a pair of shoes for a doll, they seemed so ridiculously small to me - surely my own children's feet had never been so tiny?

I finished the booties with a little ribbon and when I mentioned to Louise that booties we flying off my crochet hook, she sent me a link for baby flip flops - their cuteness is overwhelming and I'm very, very tempted to make a pair the next time procrastination strikes.

Happy crocheting

Deb

P.S. If you're looking to make some ballet slippers for grown ups, Louise has made some fabulous pairs - just click here for the link.

Saturday, 20 July 2013

Just over a year ago, after many a phone call and Facebook message detailing the crafts we were currently working on, Louise and I decided to dip our toes into the world of blogging. Living on opposite sides of a vast continent meant we didn't get to see each others projects all that much and blogging seemed like a fabulous way to keep in crafty contact and if I'm honest it also allowed my Facebook friends a little respite from my increasingly crafty posts.

We had absolutely no idea if it would only be the two of us that would ever look at it and we were OK with that, but the fact that you choose to join us means a great deal to both of us.

We started with a knitted blanket back in July 2012, and since then we've worked our way through everything from scarves to ballet slippers and from Christmas to Halloween and we've been so thrilled with the feedback we've received. We've been sent wonderful photos of finished items, had tonnes of questions thrown at us and along the way come to realise that blogging is really great fun!

For both of us one wonderful thing to have come from this year has been the opportunity to learn new skills. I've been loom knitting, crocheting and even tried my hand at a bit of embroidery, meanwhile Louise has has been spinning, even recently getting a handmade spinning wheel, all crafts we'd been thinking about doing "one day" now in play thanks to blogging about them.

We're really excited at the thought of what the next twelve months will bring. Thank you so much for your continued support.

Wednesday, 17 July 2013

We have an important birthday coming up in our household in about six months time. I've already started planning the party, even though my husband thinks it's way to early to even think about. He has a point of course, but I just can't help myself. I've already mostly planned the menu, told my soon to be adult son the number of guests he can invite, planned what to do with the tricky situation of alcohol consumption (18 is the legal drinking age in Australia) and now my mind is working on the little details that I personally find very rewarding.

While the dinner menu is pretty much put together, what to actually have for dessert isn't nearly so well thought out, even though we've already planned how the sweets will be displayed. When I mentioned to my son we could have cake stands made from records he was pretty impressed and so it was I found myself in our local Salvos shop looking for records that would suit. There really wasn't anything I thought he'd be overly impressed with and in the end for the princely sum of $2 came away with the a Tracy Ullman 10" extended remix of "Breakaway", purchased as they didn't have any singles in stock and I needed a smaller size record, together with "West Side Story". Definitely not the birthday boy's taste in music, let me assure you of that, but Indie rock is nowhere to be found in charity/thrift stores.

I've been looking on eBay for cake stand holders and I'm pleased to say that they're easy and cheap to buy in bulk, but for my little experiment to see if my plan would come together I used a holder that was my grandmother's. The very last time she held my son was when he was almost two, so it was with some nostalgia that I used it when planning for his 18th.

I think that if I can find a few 10" records as well as LP's and singles, that we could actually end up with three tiered stands. I'm still not sure if dessert will include tiny cupcakes and marshmallows, but I'm really delighted with how steady the cake stand is. Let the dessert planning begin!

Monday, 15 July 2013

My dad has spent months making it. We had a discussion at Christmas about the
feasibility of making a spinning wheel but plans were very few and far
between. So, he went away and had a think
about it and he came up with a plan by looking at pictures of other
wheels. And then he made it. Just like that. Out of some Sheoak floorboards, a spinning
wheel was born.

It arrived yesterday and it is a magnificent thing. We set it all up and I was about to start
spinning but then realised that my parents had driven 2 hours to bring it to me
so perhaps they would like a cup of tea.
Then we had morning tea and then lunch.

My son teaching
himself to spin

During this time, my son spent an hour or 2 learning to spin
and I indulgently watched him learning.
How sweet it all seemed. This is
the same son who bought me some Cashmere Roving for Mother’s day as he knew the
spinning wheel was coming. Of course I
could let him use the wheel – it’s the least I could do.

After lunch and after hearty thank you’s and good byes were
said it was my turn. My son showed me
his spinning. It was good, really
good. This wheel must make the whole
process so easy so I was filled with excitement. 3 hours later his spinning was still better
than mine and I was in no mood to listen to ‘instructions’ from someone who, 4
hours earlier had never spun on a wheel before.

It’s all coming together though and I was extraordinarily
pleased with the progress I was making and I couldn’t be happier. Well, I’ll be happier when my spinning is
better than my sons but other than that it’s a glorious birthday present. One of the best I have ever received.* Now I just have to come up with a name for her. I'm thinking of 'Evangeline' - Evie for short.

Happy Spinning

Louise

Disclaimer

*Apologies to anyone who has ever given me a birthday
present. This is in no way meant to
imply that your present may have been inferior in any way or that it was not
appreciated & cherished.

Saturday, 13 July 2013

I've been seeing crochet headbands all over Facebook lately, and on a particularly productive weekend decided to try a FitzBirch version. They really are so quick and easy that I'm tempted to go through my wool stash to see what other colours I can come up with.

It doesn't matter what thickness of yarn you use as the pattern is easily changed depending on the chunkiness of the yarn and the size of the head that will be wearing it. We are using Lincraft Celtic, a mix of wool, acrylic and alpaca which recommends a 5.5mm needle size. It's chunky and in shades of blue is the perfect match for denim.

The pattern (which is ideal for beginners) is:

Chain enough length to wrap once around the wearers head. In our case this was 60 chains, but in all honesty I would probably only do 55 chains next time to make the headband fit really snugly. The finished product has a little stretch, so being a little tighter initially shouldn't cause any problems

Join end of chain to beginning using slip stitch. Chain 2 (forms first stitch), Skip first chain in row and then DC until into each chain until 10 stitches remain. SC the remaining stitches.

Continue this pattern until headband is the desired thickness - we chose 6 rows for ours.

A lot of the flower embellishments on headbands I've seen have been wonderfully over sized and look really gorgeous on young girls, but we were after something that, while still floral, wouldn't be quite so 3D and came across a really fabulous design at Scrapbook and Cards Today. It's super easy and we were very pleased with the result in our chunkier yarn. We sewed the flower in place adding a navy button and it was all finished in an hour or so.

Although our model does not look thrilled to be wearing her new headband in this photo, I can assure you it had more to do with her being full of cold and her mother dragging her out into the garden on a cold Winter's morning, than the actual headband!

Wednesday, 10 July 2013

The weather has turned decidedly chilly here in Melbourne. Frosts are starting to appear on the lawns and the morning walk to the train station has started to become more bracing than is entirely comfortable. We've been digging out scarves and gloves, but my daughter is at a new school this year, with quite a strict uniform policy (Summer socks are white, but must be above the ankle is just one of the many rules we are following). My daughter's blue stripy gloves from last year just won't do I'm afraid.

My plan was to purchase some black yarn and make a pair of fingerless mittens which would not only match her Winter uniform and keep her hands warm, but also allow the dexterity required for handling her train ticket. I ended up at Lincraft and chose "Bamboozled" yarn with my thoughts being that I would loom knit a pair of mittens, in much the same way we had previously made Loom Knit Gauntlets, and then crochet a little lacy edge with Cleckheaton's slightly thinner ply "Bamboo".

Things didn't quite go to plan!

Attempt 1. I started on the smallest blue loom, but quickly realised that the stitches were far to large and I would need to use two strands of yarn to provide any warmth to the wearer and I was quite sure I didn't have enough yarn on hand for that.

Attempt 2 I then tried the hand made loom my father made as it gives a much smaller stitch, but this really didn't work so well. While "Bamboozled" is a delightfully soft yarn it has very little twist, meaning on the loom you are trying to pick up what seems like a thousand individual threads and pull them over the pin. A delicate operation indeed and while I was going to have a rib cuff, purl stitch was practically impossible. I kept going with e-wrap until I'd almost finished one glove, but decided I didn't have the patience to go through it all again for glove two. While "One Sock Syndrome" is well documented, I'm not so certain "One Mitten Syndrome" exists.

Attempt 3 By this stage I had given up on the looms entirely. The yarn was definitely not suited to the fine hook of the loom and so out came my vintage needles for an attempt at knitting in the round. I haven't done a lot of knitting lately, just the odd scarf or cowl in between other projects, but it's lovely to hear the click clack of needles as they work together.

The pattern I came up with was:

Using 3.25mm DPNs, cast on 16 stitches on each of three needles.

Work 7 rows Rib

Change to 4mm DPNs and work 19 rows stockinette stitch.

At beginning of next row, cast off 6 stitches, finish row in stockinette stitch.

At beginning of next row, cast on 6 stitches and continue working another two rows of stockinette.

Change to 3.25mm needles. Work 11 rows rib.

Cast off.

Pictured are my loom knit attempt on the left and my needle knit attempt on the right (still to be blocked when this photo was taken). I'm wondering if my daughter wouldn't mind wearing miss matched mittens for the next week or so...or at least until someone finds a cure for "second mitten syndrome"

Monday, 8 July 2013

As the mother of Adult children, there comes a time in life when they have to exert their independence and move out. We seemed to have spent many, many years preparing them for this – but not preparing ourselves.

My daughter recently informed me that she was going to be moving out – again! and of course, I was sad. Not crying sad, just that melancholy ‘where have the years gone’ type of sad. She is turning 22 this year so it’s hardly unexpected but I wallowed in the melancholy mood for a few days until I started to hear the little voice in my head. When I first heard it, I was shocked .. and a little ashamed – but over the coming days it kept getting louder and louder and I could no longer ignore it. The voice kept saying ‘Craft Room’.

Preparing a craft room was just the tonic I needed. I kept envisaging myself happily ensconced in this room, listening to music or audio books whilst I knit, crochet or spin. The spring came back into my step and whilst I was not actively encouraging my daughter to leave, I kept popping into her room to measure things up. As more and more of her things were leaving the room, I found myself saying, ‘Shelving there, couch over here .. Should I paint that wall?’

I ordered a large set of shelving for all my wool. When wool is piled up and shoved into any container that is to hand, it can look quite substantial. When it was all nicely packed into shelving, I didn’t have as much as I thought – so that could only mean one thing

Squirrel Swift

It's also a chance for me to store all of the wonderful things that my Dad has made.

Quill Spindle

The yarn winder, the squirrel swift and the quill spindle all get a home as well. My very crafty Dad has also made me a spinning wheel and this has pride of place. The room is a little dark so I will have to get some lighting .. oh, and I've seen some fantastic knitting prints that look like eye charts which I may have to consider. Then there's knitted cushions to make ....

Yarn Winder

As much as I am enjoying setting up the craft room, please don’t get me wrong, there will always be a place for Hayley in our home and she is welcome back at any stage for any length of time - only, from now on, she may have to share her room with an ever expanding wool stash and a spinning wheel which, quite frankly, is my idea of heaven.

Saturday, 6 July 2013

The ‘delight’ in this infinity scarf is not so much the scarf or the choice of yarn but the fact that my daughter asked if I could knit
her a ‘chevron something’. All knitterly
mums out there would recognise the delight of being asked by their child to make
something for them. It doesn't happen
all that often so it is a cause for rejoicing when it does. It was proving a bit tricky to get started though. The initial thought was just plain striping but when I showed Hayley some self patterning wool, she really liked them so I set about knitting some swatches to see which gave the best overall pattern. After a couple of days of knitting swatches, plain colours looked the best so, in shades of grey, a pattern was devised .. and that's when the delight faded.

The Chevron Delight Scarf doubles as a
cowl when wrapped twice.

After showing Hayley some cowls, we chose one that she liked and so I spend a couple of evenings knitting. It turns out that it was the pattern she liked, not the cowl so I undid that and started again.After a few hours of knitting the scarf, a rookie mistake meant that I had to unravel it and start again. Next attempt saw me with half a design more than I needed. 4th attempt saw me start and forget to do the provisional cast on. The 'delight' for this scarf was well and truly waning.However, the pattern was striking so I persevered and finally, the pattern came together.

Abbreviations

Slip 2 stitches as if to knit to RHS needle. Knit next stitch. Pick up slipped stitches and pass over the knitted stitch

YO - Yarn over

M1 - this can be done in a number of ways. You can knit into the front and the back of the stitch, You can lift the 'bar' (the yarn between the 2 stitches) and knit this or you can make a stitch using the backwards loop cast on. I chose knitting the bar between the stitches.

Pattern *Amended Jan 4*

Using a contrasting yarn, provisionally cast on 69 stitches. I use the crochet method. You can watch a good demonstration of this here.

Rows 2 & 3 form the pattern.The first stitch for each row is slipped to keep the edges of the scarf neat. I always slip the first stitch of any row so I don't end up with very loose edge stitches.

The colour chart is

Black - 8 rows

Silver - 2 rows

Grey - 8 rows

Black - 2 rows

Silver - 8 rows

Grey - 2 rows

Following the colour combination above, continue knitting for a further 9 repeats (making a total pattern repeat of 10). IMPORTANT TIP: There are a lot of colour changes in this scarf so I made sure that I weaved in any loose ends as I was knitting them. This entails holding both colour ends together and wrapping them around the working yarn as each stitch is knitted. All this leaves are little ends that can be snipped once the scarf is finished. It would be a mammoth job to thread a needle and weave in each end once the scarf was finished

Blocking

BEFORE I removed the provisional cast on to join up, I blocked whilst it was flat. It is much easier to block a scarf than a cowl. After blocking, the length of the scarf was 138cm. I used my usual method of pinning and spraying with water and leaving overnight to dry. It's always lovely to get up in the morning to a freshly blocked piece of knitting waiting to be finished.

Joining

Slowly remove the provisional cast on and transfer the stitches to a knitting needle and using the 3 needle bind off method, cast off all stitches. Weave in all ends and you are finished.I finished the scarf when my daughter was visiting so I gave it to her to try on. She liked it .. and I did notice that she did not take it off while she was here.

Wednesday, 3 July 2013

Knitting and Crochet go hand in hand with cups of tea, lots of happy conversations and memorable times. For some years now Deb and I have had to have our cups of tea whilst catching up on facebook or chatting over the phone but that hasn't stopped us from making cosies for the day (hopefully not too far away) when we can both sit down over a shared pot of tea and catch up on years of gossip intellectual conversation.The distance between us hasn't stopped us from knitting an assortment of items and cosies though and we thought we would list them all in one handy post. We've made cosies for teapots, coffee cups, wine bottles, boiled eggs and an IPad. We have even made a cosy to cover a brick to make a handy door stop. These patterns are free and are a fabulous way to use up small amounts of yarn in your stash for gift giving or just to keep for yourself. Christmas Wine Cosy

The perfect way to dress up a Christmas Tipple. These cosies are simple to knit and use just the smallest amount of yarn from your stash.

If you can't be with someone for a cup of tea, the next best thing is to send them a knitting pattern for a tea cosy in a style they love. This cosy was made after Deb sent me a pattern for a fairisle cover.